How well does the iMac 27" i7 do for games?

I plan to retire my 3 year old system that has a dieing motherboard which I use for gaming. I play Battlefield games, WOW, Kalonline, Metal of Honor, Call of Duty type of games. I can build a pretty powerful gaming system for the price of the imac, but I really want to get a imac and hope it can run all these games just as good too. If anyone can give me some ideas if it can please let me know. Will I be able to use my Logitech Joystick, gaming keyboard, etc with it?

On my 2009" i5 I'm able to run Crysis 2 at 1080p with High Details on. This is the system with the Radeon HD 4850. So I'd assume the current i7 model is even better, since it has the 5750.

But I'd wait for the iMac refresh this year, if possible. The gains of Sandy Bridge architecture will be pretty huge, and the graphics card bump is always nice. Especially if you're going to be getting Battlefield 3 and Skyrim later this year.

On my 2009" i5 I'm able to run Crysis 2 at 1080p with High Details on. This is the system with the Radeon HD 4850. So I'd assume the current i7 model is even better, since it has the 5750.

But I'd wait for the iMac refresh this year, if possible. The gains of Sandy Bridge architecture will be pretty huge, and the graphics card bump is always nice. Especially if you're going to be getting Battlefield 3 and Skyrim later this year.

Click to expand...

The current iMac is only slightly better in gaming performance than the Fall 2009.

About Skyrim: I am sure the graphics will not be more demanding than Crysis2

It is. The 5750 is actually a 5850m. And a 6850 is a downgrade from a 5850. So the 6750m certainly is. A 6950 would be an upgrade but not by a huge amount. At least the desktop cards, I would think the mobility cards would be somewhat similar.

The 6000 series can be somewhat misleading as you'd expect better performance at similar numbers such as the 6850 or 5850. Even the 6970m can't quite catch my desktop 460gtx which is only a midrange card. And I'd hope for more power considering the higher resolution of the 27" iMac.

If you are serious about gaming, I say skip this generation and the next generation altogether and build your own gaming rig.

I have the current i7 model and for all intents and purposes, it is a beast and chews through anything I throw at it, with the exception of games at native resolution.

I currently play COD WAW and Black Ops, Medal of Honor and Left 4 Dead 2. I run full details/high quality at 1920 x 1050 (or whatever that 2nd number is) and get online FPS at 50 and above in heavy situations, which is more than respectable but if you are REALLY into gaming, you probably want higher resolutions and maybe even better framerates.

If I run the same games at the same detail settings and native resolution (2560 x 1440) FPS is 30 to 40's and IMO that is not a good framerate for online FPS. Single Player is different, it looks amazing and I'll play that way all day long.

Waiting on the next gen will probably still be a disappointment for the gaming world as we are only going to see a 10-15% performance boost over the current i7. Sandy Bridge and a 6850 are not going to give the current i7 the boost that the people in the macbook world have seen compared to prior generations

To close, if the FPS numbers I mentioned above are acceptable to you, by all means get the iMac. I know I do not regret it nor ever think about a more powerful rig. I would suggest waiting though, the new hardware should be out soon and you might as well get every FPS with the money you spend.

Assuming we get a new imac in the next month or 2, when would be the next refresh after that ?

I understand BF3 is coming out in the latter part of the year and whilst i'm not intending to buy an imac as a gaming platform it would be nice to be able to play BF3 if possible. With that in mind, what would get improved on a refresh ? Would the gfx card get bumped up a bit ?

Sorry for the noob questions, new to apple so am unaware of how their refresh cycles go and i can wait to let this upgrade pass by and await the next one if it ties in with the release of BF3 and i get better gfx/cpu as a result.

It is. The 5750 is actually a 5850m. And a 6850 is a downgrade from a 5850. So the 6750m certainly is. A 6950 would be an upgrade but not by a huge amount. At least the desktop cards, I would think the mobility cards would be somewhat similar.

The 6000 series can be somewhat misleading as you'd expect better performance at similar numbers such as the 6850 or 5850. Even the 6970m can't quite catch my desktop 460gtx which is only a midrange card. And I'd hope for more power considering the higher resolution of the 27" iMac.

Click to expand...

According to Notebookheck the HD6950M has 2GB Graphics Ram and 256bit.
I'd call that a huge upgrade from the current one.
Oh well, lets just wait and see.

MacRumors attracts a broad audience
of both consumers and professionals interested in
the latest technologies and products. We also boast an active community focused on
purchasing decisions and technical aspects of the iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Mac platforms.